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HHN 27 Discussion


Mark M.

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22 minutes ago, Grime said:

I haven't been to UO in a couple years up until I went to Citywalk for a movie and some drinks a couple weeks ago and holy shit it's like going through a TSA checkpoint. With security as tight as it is at Citywalk, will there be another chokepoint of metal detectors at the entrance to the park like I'm used to? Or will this relieve some of the pressure at the turnstiles to the event?

Last year they used the new metal detectors before City Walk to eliminate the ones in front of the park.

 

This also means that they don't have you line up by the arches any more. If it's like last year, you should be able to go right to the front gates.

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2 minutes ago, StupidStupidDan said:

Last year they used the new metal detectors before City Walk to eliminate the ones in front of the park.

 

This also means that they don't have you line up by the arches any more. If it's like last year, you should be able to go right to the front gates.

 

Good to hear. How much of a clusterf*ck was Citywalk? I'd imagine not nearly as bad because they can consistently let people through all day without having to wait until 6:30 to start.

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18 minutes ago, Grime said:

 

Good to hear. How much of a clusterf*ck was Citywalk? I'd imagine not nearly as bad because they can consistently let people through all day without having to wait until 6:30 to start.

You'll get through within minutes. They're very good about it. No complaints at all.

 

(Note: As long as you don't get stuck behind some a-hole trying to bring in something they're not supposed to.)

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14 minutes ago, StupidStupidDan said:

You'll get through within minutes. They're very good about it. No complaints at all.

 

(Note: As long as you don't get stuck behind some a-hole trying to bring in something they're not supposed to.)

 

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I'm actually more excited to go into HHN without getting screwed at the metal detectors than anything else, lol.

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1 hour ago, Grime said:

I haven't been to UO in a couple years up until I went to Citywalk for a movie and some drinks a couple weeks ago and holy shit it's like going through a TSA checkpoint. With security as tight as it is at Citywalk, will there be another chokepoint of metal detectors at the entrance to the park like I'm used to? Or will this relieve some of the pressure at the turnstiles to the event?

Last year they only used the metal detectors at the CityWalk gates. That made the entrance to HHN a lot easier, so i believe they will do it that way again this year

edit: crap this was already answered, the other messages didnt load for some reason

Edited by duh1011
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As others mentioned, the security is a breeze now....but getting into the event itself can still be a bit of a cluster.  Every year with my group, ONE OF US can't get our damn finger print to work.  And every time we go through the gate, we have to do the whole song and dance and have them go get a supervisor when we tell them from the beginning "Joe's finger print won't work".  So annoying.  They need some kind of card they give you if your finger print fails 3 quick tries in a row that says "Check ID and compare names" since your name shows up on your RoF ticket. 

 

We feel guilty every time and try to speed it up as soon as possible...like walk up to an employee just standing around the gate that looks like a supervisor and tell them in advance, but nope.  Doesn't work.  "Try again....try again...try one more time.  Are you sure you used your pointer finger?  Try your other hand.  Sure you didn't use your thumb, try that.  Hmmm, let me call over my supervisor."  Same song and dance every night...multiply it by maybe 100 other people having the same issue each night and it's just a disaster.  One year they even issued my friend a new ticket and re-scanned his finger and the very next night, STILL didn't work.  After we stood around for 20 minutes in customer service for him to get it. 

 

Not to mention drunks trying to swipe their regular park tickets and stuff.

 

They really need to find an alternative option for the finger print scanners as they suck (though MUCH better than say 3 years ago when multiple people in my group would have it happen!).

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Moving security to where it is now has probably been the single smartest thing they've done - especially with regards to HHN.  It seems like there's only a fraction of the entry points as compared to when they were at the gate and it's 10x more efficient.  I don't know about anyone else but it was still the strangest thing to go by the archway and enter the park without that security cluster fuck.  Never once had an issue with the biometrics nor witnessed anyone else.  Retina scans??

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Any guesses as to numbers we'll expect tonight? I honestly can't imagine a large portion of the general public coming to HHN this early in the year. October is still 2 whole weeks out. Lines should be short and sweet.

 

Although I may have just jinxed it.

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6 minutes ago, Grime said:

Any guesses as to numbers we'll expect tonight? I honestly can't imagine a large portion of the general public coming to HHN this early in the year. October is still 2 whole weeks out. Lines should be short and sweet.

 

Although I may have just jinxed it.

 

Nah man, opening night is opening night. Gonna be packed at least tonight. B)

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Just now, ForeverEvil1 said:

 

Nah man, opening night is opening night. Gonna be packed at least tonight. B)

 

I have to agree.  Once upon a time, opening night was decent for low crowd levels.  But it's been quite a few years since I've seen that.  However, there are still a lot of people without power.  So it's tough to gauge.  Though, if I still was without power, HHN would be a nice break from the home sweat box.  Hope for the best, expect the worst.

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2 minutes ago, ForeverEvil1 said:

 

Nah man, opening night is opening night. Gonna be packed at least tonight. B)

 

I haven't been to an opening night since, 2013? Maybe 2012. But I still usually have enough time to do every house plus B&T with no express. I'd consider that a slow night. 2nd or 3rd week into October when you have time to do maybe 2 houses before everything else is 60+ minutes is what I mean by busy.

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10 minutes ago, Grime said:

 

I haven't been to an opening night since, 2013? Maybe 2012. But I still usually have enough time to do every house plus B&T with no express. I'd consider that a slow night. 2nd or 3rd week into October when you have time to do maybe 2 houses before everything else is 60+ minutes is what I mean by busy.

 

You should be able to do that tonight, definitely.  I'd even wager a noticeable dip starting around 10:30-11pm.  If you get there at gates open, you could knock out 4 relatively quickly.  There are some newer house locations and queues since you've last been.  Mainly the Shrek theater and the tent by MIB.  Some houses aren't open right away - when gates open.  Though I can't recall if opening weekend does it that way.  Some are a little late on the draw from stay and scream and/or AP night.  I usually like, solely due to how the queues enter and exit, hitting the parade building, the two tents and then MIB.  After that it's a free for all.  Sometimes I go for the soundstages first.

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12 minutes ago, Pandry said:

I usually like, solely due to how the queues enter and exit, hitting the parade building, the two tents and then MIB.  After that it's a free for all. 

Keep in mind that the one tent entrance that used to be right next to parade exit has been moved back next to the other tent entrance. Still a decent plan, but not as easy as the last few years.

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12 minutes ago, StupidStupidDan said:

Keep in mind that the one tent entrance that used to be right next to parade exit has been moved back next to the other tent entrance. Still a decent plan, but not as easy as the last few years.

 

Oh yeah??  Good info!!  So does that mean leaving parade and walking past Simpsons and literally heading up to tent 2 for tent 1 access?

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8 minutes ago, Pandry said:

 

Oh yeah??  Good info!!  So does that mean leaving parade and walking past Simpsons and literally heading up to tent 2 for tent 1 access?

Yup. It's bit of a hike, but it should help spread the crowds a little better with three entrances being near B&T now. At least that's what I believe the idea behind the move was.

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Just now, StupidStupidDan said:

Yup. It's bit of a hike, but it should help spread the crowds a little better with three entrances being near B&T now. At least that's what I believe the idea behind the move was.

 

Cool.  Thanks for the heads up!  That's helpful to know.  Though I am curious to see how it's laid out now.  I never thought they had any crowd issue with where parade let out and tent 1 entered.  We shall see.

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3 hours ago, Pandry said:

Never once had an issue with the biometrics nor witnessed anyone else.  Retina scans??

 

Wow, I assumed it was an issue with a bunch of people.  We honestly have someone with the issues every single year (in a group between 5-12 depending on who goes each year)!  Maybe NYers just have !@#$%ed up fingers.  We have 2 diabetics in the group, including myself, who have a lot of scar tissue on their fingers from constantly checking sugar levels, but it's not just us.  Always so annoying that they used to make you sign the tickets just in case this issue came up, but the signatures matched up with state issued drivers licenses still didn't matter to them.

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3 hours ago, Pandry said:

 Never once had an issue with the biometrics nor witnessed anyone else.  Retina scans??

 

They should just do a quick urine test and be done with it.  If you're willing to pee into a cup in public, you're a true HHN diehard and probably bought a ticket.

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16 hours ago, Oysterhead00 said:

 

Wow, I assumed it was an issue with a bunch of people.  We honestly have someone with the issues every single year (in a group between 5-12 depending on who goes each year)!  Maybe NYers just have !@#$%ed up fingers.  We have 2 diabetics in the group, including myself, who have a lot of scar tissue on their fingers from constantly checking sugar levels, but it's not just us.  Always so annoying that they used to make you sign the tickets just in case this issue came up, but the signatures matched up with state issued drivers licenses still didn't matter to them.

 

Sooo...talk about jinxing myself.  Though I didn't have an issue with the biometric scan, I never got to do it - initially.  We went in as gates opened.  My girlfriend went through, no problem.  Me, not so much.  They scanned my ticket and it kept saying (on their end) failed.  Long story short, I was sent to guest services and had to wait in line for over an hour for what was a 10 second fix.  That royally sucked!!

After that I needed a drink only to learn they've seriously cut down on liquor being sold.  Rough start to the season!!

 

Some additional info logistics wise:

Staff manning the Express lines are using a new scan method - an app on an iPhone.  It wasn't good.  Seemed like they worked every other person.  Whereas the previous scanners were efficient, IMO.  This had some Express lines moving slow until you cleared that scan.  A positive:  I had 3 houses that they couldn't scan so they just manually checked to see if passes said Express on them.  Once again, Universal fixing things that aren't broken.

 

I don't like the new queue for Tent 1.  The MIB area is a cluster fuck.  And the express scan in this line was so bad that there was a huge gap with just a few people going by due to the scanners not working well.

 

Hopefully these bugs get ironed out.

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23 hours ago, Pandry said:

Moving security to where it is now has probably been the single smartest thing they've done - especially with regards to HHN.  It seems like there's only a fraction of the entry points as compared to when they were at the gate and it's 10x more efficient.  I don't know about anyone else but it was still the strangest thing to go by the archway and enter the park without that security cluster fuck.  Never once had an issue with the biometrics nor witnessed anyone else.  Retina scans??

I think the biggest change they made is replacing bag checks with scanners. They no longer need to check every pocket and argue with people who refuse to open up things for them, since the scanner just X-rays the whole thing in a few seconds.

 

The Universal security is also worlds ahead of the yellow-shirted contracted company from prior years. They were poorly trained to profile people based on age and gender, which resulted in young men who didn't trip the metal detector and had no bags (like myself) having their entire waistbands checked and often given a pat-down in addition while older women who didn't seem like a threatening group wouldn't even get a thorough bag check and any metal detectors going off for them were ignored.

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The changes that have been made really suck in my opinion. I understand queue routes need to change over time for various reasons, but the way they did it doesn't work well. Also not being able to get through by MiB seems unnecessary. Lastly, all of the alcohol related changes are really frustrating to me. 

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